Hugh St. Quentin Cayley (November 19, 1857 – April 13, 1934) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer, news reporter and politician.

Early life

Hugh St. Quentin Cayley was born on November 19, 1857 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. He was raised in

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and one of eleven children fathered by William Cayley. William Cayley was a lawyer and member of the Legislative Assembly of Canada. Cayley studied law at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. After he graduated he worked for the law firm of Black, Kerr, Las and Cassels. Cayley later moved to

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and became a news reporter. Cayley married his wife Leonora Adelaide Cochrane on September 6, 1897. They had one son,

Beverley Cochrane Cayley Beverley Cochrane Cayley (October 25, 1898 – June 8, 1928) was a Canadian lawyer and mountaineer. Early life Cayley was born on October 25, 1898, in Grand Forks, British Columbia. He was the only child of Canadian politician and County Cour ...

, who was born October 25, 1898 and died from tuberculosis in June, 1928.

News career

Cayley's first job as a news reporter was at the

New York Herald-Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

. He later moved west settling in Calgary, Northwest Territories in 1884. He joined the staff at the

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

which was founded a year earlier. He quickly rose to be a partner in ownership of the Herald. The biggest story of his career was the ''Travis Affair''. In the fall of 1885 Stipendiary Magistrate

Jeremiah Travis Jeremiah Travis (January 21, 1830 – April 27, 1911) was a Canadian politician and attorney. He was a member of the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories in the 1880s, serving as stipendiary magistrate. He was an attorney and judge. Trav ...

was sent by the federal government to enforce prohibition in Calgary. Travis took on the popular municipal council, and sentenced Alderman Simon J. Clarke to hard six months hard labour. Cayley, both clerk of the district court as well as editor of the ''Calgary Herald'', wrote an unfavourable editorial on the magistrate. Travis accused Cayley of showing up at court drunk, dismissed him as clerk, charged him with contempt, and sentenced him to prison. The height of Cayley's career at the Herald was serving as Publisher. He served that role from February 1885 to January 2, 1887. He left the Herald selling off his interests in the newspaper when he ran for election in 1886.

Northwest Territories Legislature

Cayley was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in a by-election held on July 14, 1886. The election was held to elect two members from the

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

electoral district. Cayley won the second seat with 28.5% of the popular vote. John D. Lauder finished first winning 33.6% of the popular vote in the four man field of candidates. He was re-elected to a second term in the first Northwest Territories general election held in 1888. He won second place out of three with 34% of the vote. Cayley was acclaimed to his third term in the

1891 Northwest Territories general election The 1891 North-West Territories general election was held on 7 November 1891 to elect 25 members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was the second general election in the History of the North-West Territories. ...

Late life

After leaving politics, Cayley resumed his career as a lawyer. He was later appointed as Judge of County Court in

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spending almost 20 years in that position. The town of Cayley,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

is named in his honor. He died on April 13, 1934 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cayley, Hugh 1857 births 1934 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories University of Toronto alumni New-York Tribune personnel

Hugh Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...